My first Dr. Appt

[ErinB]

Today is my first appt to discuss possible ADD. I’m kinda nervous that he’s gonna look at me and tell me there’s nothing wrong with me. Then what am I gonna do? I feel like I’m crazy! I know that there will be a number of appts I just wish I could fast forward to the end because I’m exausted

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[Anonymous]

A good doctor should LISTEN, and if you have the sympots of ADD, he should be able to pick up on them, then there are test and what not. If he brushed you off, look for another doc.

In the end you need to get to the basics of your issues, if not ADD then whatever else it may be, and a good doctor should help you get those answers.

good luck!

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[Anonymous]

Yes I sympathize with you, what if it’s not ADD, then what?? I am in the same boat, I just cannot get my High School Ged Equivalent, I just can’t focus and retain knowledge and I have always been like that, I never even thought of Adult ADD until I saw the television special on the subject and now I want to look into it a little because it’s holding me back from a half decent job

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[Anonymous]

@ErinB – I hope your appointment went okay.

I had my first doctor’s appointment today. It went okay, I suppose. We just discussed my life and the issues I have, though this took the whole hour long appointment, so it was certainly not a trivial discussion. He told me there was certainly some sort of disorder that needs to be dealt with, but that it was too early to determine whether it was anxiety or ADHD or something else. I think his belief is that an anxiety disorder is a good possibility, but that ADHD is something to be further assessed for as it can not be ruled out by our discussion so far. He will do cognitive testing to help determine the main issue – I certainly know I have some anxiety for sure, but believe that ADHD is also a strong possibility, and may be the cause of some of the anxiety. He told me that it was good that I was an adult, because there are many disorders that can be ruled out in an adult (like autism) that would have to be considered as a possibility in a child with my issues/symptoms, and that would muddy the diagnostic waters even more. He took my school reports to read before my next appointment. I wonder what he will think of them – I did pretty well at school in general, though my reports still contain things like “homework often started, rarely completed”, “homework often late or lost”, “daydreams and doodles in class”, “rushes set tasks in order to move on to a task of her own choosing”, “makes careless errors”, and “could do much better with more effort”.

I have to wait two weeks for my next appointment now. How frustrating!! I know I want this to be done properly, but waiting is so irritating!!! I just have to remember that I am lucky this doctor squeezed me into his schedule after the original one I was going to see had a family emergency and couldn’t see me after a four month wait.

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[billd]

I had an initial doctor visit, then another hour with a behavioral specialist, then FOUR hours with a neuro-psyc/PhD

Only after all 3 would they commit to it being DEFINITELY ADHD, and not something else. I was really amazed when the last fellow listed out for me the other things that cause symptoms a whole lot like ADHD, some, in fact, very nearly identical.

It now make me concerned for those who jump at a diagnosis and just say “here, take these” like my family doctor did! WOW, had he been wrong, think of the trouble he could have been in.

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[Anonymous]

Thanks KrazyKat, I follow your story with great interest, I will seek my own diagnosis in time but my report cards should be of great help, 37 in math, 29 in physics, etc. I am anxious to see how your diagnosis proceeds. I think we are all in the same boat here, I’m sure it will all work out !!!!

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[munchkin]

I went through my first “real” appointments in the last few months (after seeing all the wrong people for years). It took about a month to get thru diagnosis and to the beginnings of treatment i am in now. Maddeningly slow, but everything has been worth the wait now that I’m being treated for the right condition! Everybody hang in there! (Insert kitten hanging from wall picture here)

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[Anonymous]

Impatience aside, I must say that I AM glad that my doc is doing all the right things and taking it slow. I know my anxieties are muddying the waters (as anxiety disorder is one that causes some similar symptoms to ADHD, but is also a common comorbidity to ADHD), and my good grades and behaviour at school are also puzzling to the doc – but I love learning, so school was stimulating and interesting to me, for the most part. I nearly always payed close attention to anything new that we were learning because I enjoyed acquiring knowledge, and found it very easy too. But issues showed up in things like revision of previous work (boring), essay writing (hard), homework (boring or hard), group work (ick!), being on time to each class, and the rare subject or topic that didn’t interest me (like art theory!!). I failed library studies (how to use the library resources) lol. Additionally, my mum taught at my school, so there were pretty rapid consequences if I had failed to hand in an assignment or behaved badly And you know what Dr Barkley says about ADHD and consequences?! They need to be rapid (within 24 hours) for those with ADHD if they are to have an effect on behaviour.

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[billd]

>>And you know what Dr Barkley says about ADHD and consequences?! They need to be rapid (within 24 hours) for those with ADHD if they are to have an effect on behaviour. <<

And for me, 24 hours is a VERY long time. Needs to be nearly instant in my case, but really, he’s right.

My teachers sometimes did the “stay after school and xxxxxx” and that didn’t do much, the event was long gone by then, others, like Miss Maines, well, if she caught me “talking” or doing bad in the class, she’d turn before you could blink an eye and throw a chalkboard eraser at me. WOW, that was IMMEDIATE consequences, and embarrassing as heck!

She understood there was a problem and tried to deal with it as a “special case”, and not that “Bill is a bad boy”.

I loved her dearly, and really respected her over many of my other teachers, but if she did that today, she’d be up against the school board….. or worse.

I believe we need MORE teachers like her. And if a teacher did that with one of my kids, I’d be calling to thank them.

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[Anonymous]

Hehe, I actually remember throwing a chalkboard eraser at one of my teachers!! It was the same teacher we nicknamed “Sparky” after I tricked him into shortcircuiting an electrical circuit board I was “experimenting” with – boy did he jump!!! I ran rings around him in that class, as my dad was an electronics engineer and I grew up doing things with circuit boards, including making them. I got 100% for that term. But I was bored out of my brain, and played tricks on the teacher to keep myself amused. I must admit that I wore the eraser across the head more than a few times though, but if I caught it, then I threw it back lol

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[Anonymous]

Hi Krazy Kat, quick story, I watched a ADHD Special on WNED TV two moths ago and it shocked me, I basically had all the symptoms, I started seeing a new psychiatrist because mine retired. I mentioned the ADHD on numerous occasions and he just blew me off. I had pictured taking years to have all these psychological tests done at my time and expense. Anyways I just gave up on trying to convince him of my ADHD, meanwhile he had just been asking me general questions on my visits and we were just chatting, like I was telling him that if someone cuts me off in my car my temper goes to 0 to 60 in a millisecond and I will fight anyone, anywhere at the drop of a hat. ANYWAYS to make a long story short, HE tells me he wants me on Ritalin Slow Release (SR) 18 mg daily, anyway, long story short this is my second day of taking it and I feel a MAJOR difference, I actually have a thing called “patience” which I have never had before, some jerk honked at me and I actually didn’t lose it !!!!!!! a miracle, good luck with your diagnosis Krazy Kat

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